Cypriot Parliament President visits Cairo on two-day visit

CAIRO – 26 April 2018: President of the Cypriot Parliament Syllouris Demetris arrived in Cairo on Friday for a two-day visit, during which he will meet a number of senior state officials and visit the Parliament.

He also slated to participate in the 14th session of the Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean (PA-UfM), due to held on Saturday in Cairo.

The visit of Demetris was preceded by the visit of Cypriot Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulides to Cairo last week.

During a joint press conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry on Tuesday, Christodoulides slammed Turkey for trespassing on Egyptian-Cypriot rights in the Mediterranean.

Shoukry met with his Cypriot counterpart on Tuesday to discuss challenges facing the two nations, within the framework of preserving safety and security in the eastern Mediterranean.

In a press conference at Tahrir Palace in Cairo, Shoukry expressed Egypt’s keenness to continue working with Cyprus and other partners in the European Union on achieving mutual interests, based on principles of mutual respect and non-intervention in the domestic affairs of others.

Earlier in November, President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi visited Cyprus and discussed the construction of a pipeline to deliver gas to Egypt from Cyprus’s Aphrodite field.

“Given the long-standing anonymity between Greece and Turkey, the alliance creates another form of pressure on the Turkish regime, which openly buoys up the Muslim Brotherhood and serves as a safe haven for their top leaders,” Saeed Sadek, a professor of political sociology at the American University in Cairo, told Egypt Today.

Sadek also slid on the significance of the summit in preserving Egypt’s economic interests in regard to the gas shares, which raises the ire of Turkey, especially since Turkish troops are still stationed on the northern side of the Cypriot Island due to the unsettled political dispute.

On the sidelines of his visit, President Sisi issued a decision to approve a framework agreement signed in 2014 between Egypt and Cyprus on cooperation in the development of gas fields in the Mediterranean Sea.

Egypt and Cyprus also signed an agreement in February 2015 allowing the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company and the Cyprus Petroleum Company to transport natural gas via a direct offshore pipeline from Cyprus to Egypt, enhancing bilateral cooperation.

For his part, Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades congratulated President Sisi in a telephone call on his re-election for a second term, wishing Egyptians everlasting progress and prosperity.